DAUGHTER OF EXILE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 64, Issue 147, 1 April 1944, Page 6

DAUGHTER OF EXILE

Strange Gaelic Prophecy.

(Copyright). (By Alexander Campbell) SERIAL STORY.

CHAPTER VI. MARTHA AND SHANE GO TO STORNOWAY. He went. His long walk had exhausted him, and in a few minutes he was asleep. He dreamed that he was attempting to scale the cliffs to reach the House of the Birds. He was being pursued by the giant Heinrich and by Halford, and the pair of them pelted him with striped peppermint balls the size of rbcks. Above him Martha Pelmann was leaning over and looking down on him, wringing her hands in distress. She was" saying something, but the sound of her voice was lost in the Avails and screams of the Avhite sea birds which flapped angrily around him. Shane started awake. He .looked at his watch. It was nearly three o’clock in the morning. He turned over on his other side and this time sank into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Martha. Pelmann, looked down on the thousands of birds Avhicli whitened the rocky ledges of the cliff face and Avheeled gracefully over the blue sea. Behind her the tall black house rose massively against the cloudless sky. The day was young yet, but the sea had a. haze over it, and the still air seemed to tremble slightly. It cvas going to be hot. The girl Avore a thin Avhite blouse and a. skirt of broAvn Harris tAveed. Her golden head Avas uncovered. She gazed across the blue sea to the hills of the mainland. They Avere obscured by the thin film of heat which lay over all the distant vistas. The distance Avas not so far —thirty of forty miles. On some days Martha could clearly make out the green T>£ fields, and rocky headlands lit. up by the rays of the sun. To-day all that Avas visible was a line of peaks jagging the skyline. The girl was thinking of Laurence Shane, the artist Avhom she had met the previous day. As she recalled his long, lean face and tousled fair hair, and the grin Avliich had quirked the corners of his mouth as he regarded her, she half smiled? as though in sympathy with the image. Martha had not met many men, but she felt that Laurence Shane Avas one Avho Avould be Avortli meeting again. The giant Heinrich came out of the cool darkness of the house and blinked at the morning’s glare. His leather mask tAvisted in its nearest approach to a smile. He approached Martha and bent over her.

“A penny for your thoughts!” She turned her laughing face up to him. “Heinrich! You are like a big cat. Pad, pad, pad! So!” She ran her fingers across the smooth surface of the rock on which she sat. Then she jumped to her feet. “Does father want me?”

The ugly man shook his head. “No. He is very busy, and does not wish to be disturbed. But he wants me to go into the town, as there may be a message for him. and he says you are to come with me, if you wish it.” Martha sighed. “He is always busy. He never goes anywhere with me, never even leaves the house. I—” She turned her head. A fair-haired man carrying a case had appeared on the road. Martha threw up a hand and waved energetically. The man on the road turned his head, saw her, and waved back. “It is Mr Shane,” she said, and ran up the steep hillside. The giant looked after her, then shrugged his massive shoulders and followed. Shane smiled with pleasure when he saw the girl running towards him. He put down the case and strode to the edge of the road, brushing the straggling forelock out of his eyes. He put out both hands and caught hold of Martha’s small ones. She leaped nimbly and cleared the deep ditch that separated the moor from the road. “Good morning!” said Shane. “Good morning!” she laughed up at him. They stood grinning at each other like old friends. Shane suddenly realised that he was still holding her two hands. He dropped them hastily and stood back. Martha’s eyes fell on the case. “You are not leaving us already?” She looked at him accusingly. “You did not like the captain’s house. You are going back to the town.” Shane was strangely moved by her crestfallen face. He laughed to conceal the fact. “Nonsense!” He had already explained’the tangled history of the case. “I have to go back to Stornoway to-day to recover my own property and return this.” Her face cleared instantly. “Good!” she cried. “Then you will come with us, and we can bring you back in the evening.” When he stared: “I am going into Stornoway with Heinrich,” she explained. ‘He is going on an errand for father.”

She turned. “Is it not so Heinrich? And Mr Shane will join us.” Shane became aware of the giant standing motionless on t lie edge of I he moor staring at him. The stare made him uncomfortable. It Avas completely expressionless, yet Sliane sensed an atmosphere of hostility. Still'keeping bis eyes fixed on Shane Heinrich answerecl the girl. “1 shall ha\ r e to ask your father “Nonsense!” said Martha. “Father would not mind.”

“I say,” Shane interposed. He felt uncomfortable. “Please don’t put yourselves about. I meant to take the bus, anyway.” T-Ie picked up the case. (To be Continued.)